Elisa’s October-December pre-tax profit amounted to EUR 33 million

* October-December pre-tax profit amounted to EUR 33 million (65). Revenue was EUR 343 million (351). Excluding non-recurring items, the pre-tax profit amounted to EUR 27 million (50).
* Excluding non-recurring items, the EBITDA for the period under review amounted to EUR 89 million, which is slightly better than anticipated
* Compared with the previous quarter, Elisa’s number of mobile phone subscriptions, exclusive of MVNOs, increased by approximately 2,300 subscriptions, and the churn decreased further from 27.2 per cent to 22.6 per cent. The total number of subscriptions in Elisa’s network was approximately two million.
* During the final quarter the number of broadband subscriptions increased by 39,000 to 385,000 subscriptions at year-end. Together with Saunalahti, the total number of subscriptions reached 420,500.

The Board of Directors will propose to the AGM that a dividend of EUR 0.70 per share be distributed for 2005, which corresponds to approximately 66 per cent of the profit for the financial period. The Group’s distributable equity at year-end amounted to EUR 276 million. The Board of Directors further proposes that authorisation be sought to purchase the company’s own shares, a maximum of 10 per cent of the share capital.



CEO Veli-Matti Mattila:


"A year of strong market growth for Elisa


The year 2005 was a period of strong market growth for Elisa. We were highly successful in the fierce competition in both the mobile communications and the broadband markets.


In the summer we became the market leader in broadband subscriptions. At year-end, the number of our broadband subscriptions was approximately 385,000, showing a growth of more than 70 per cent on the previous year. Our acquisition of Saunalahti brought us a further 35,000 subscriptions. We improved services in the broadband market by offering higher speeds at the same price.


Elisa’s mobile phone subscriptions increased by approximately 100,000 during the year, totalling almost 1.5 million subscriptions at year-end. When Saunalahti became part of Elisa in autumn 2005 , the number of mobile phone subscriptions in Elisa’s network reached almost two million. Together, Elisa and Saunalahti form a strong Finnish player in the ICT market.


Competition with prices reached its peak in early autumn 2005. After that the price competition slowed down and the focus has shifted to competition with new services. The entry into force of a new Act in April, which will allow service packages including both handsets and services, gives us good opportunities for offering new services. Finland will have the opportunity of regaining its place at the leading edge of development of mobile communications services.

Elisa will continue to streamline and boost the efficiency of its operations in order to be able to offer an even better service. We also expect to see a marked improvement in revenue and operative profitability on the previous year"

ELISA CORPORATION
Vesa Sahivirta
Director, IR and Financial Communication.

Contact Information

Mr Vesa Sahivirta

Director, IR and Financial Communication

Elisa Corporation

Contact via E-mail